God created the institution of the family and the institution of the local church with distinct purposes. Both exist for the glory of God and the spreading of the Gospel. Limited Church: Unlimited Kingdom seeks to reclaim the simple, transformational, and global mission revealed in Scripture. “In a culture where it’s assumed that a full calendar equals a full life and pragmatism has become the order of the day, Rob Rienow offers a radically counter-culture alternative: the limitless kingdom of God experienced in the context of a focused church that’s been freed to be what Jesus formed the church to be. Excellent studies that move beyond the hype to get at what really matters in the field of family ministry.“
Timothy Paul Jones, Ph.D., Professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY “As a parent and a pastor, this book was a welcomed reminder that disciple making begins in the home.“
Kelly Brady, Pastor of Glen Ellyn Baptist Church, Glen Ellyn, IL “Rob Rienow calls the Christ-follower, the family, and the church to wrestle with a magnificently ignored doctrine in western Christianity—the sufficiency of Scripture for every area of life. This is a timely work that every pastor, church leader, husband, wife, parent, grandparent, and Christian should read. I think this book is one more step forward in a movement of Christ-centered churches and homes across our land committed to propagating the globe and the generations with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Brian Haynes, Lead Pastor at Bay Area First Baptist Church, and author of Shift “Rob Rienow has helped us to articulate and clarify the church’s role and the centrality of the family for advancing the Gospel. The stakes we are putting in the ground as a family ministry stand firmer as we seek to follow God’s plan for our church.”
Michael Warren, Family Pastor, ChangePoint Church, Anchorage, AK
$22.99 USD RELIGION/Christian Life/General
ROB RIENOW
Rob Rienow’s most important ministry is loving his wife Amy and leading their six children to love God. He serves as the founder of Visionary Family Ministries (visionaryfam.com), whose mission is to build the Church through a global reformation of family discipleship. He is a pastor, church planter, and author of several books including Visionary Parenting and Visionary Marriage. Rob has a M.A. in Theology from Wheaton College Graduate School, a M.Div. from Trinity International University, and a Doctor of Ministry degree in Christian Leadership from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. The Rienow family lives in Wheaton, IL.
LIMITED CHURCH: UNLIMITED KINGDOM
Discover the unique roles of the family and the local church in advancing the Gospel.
Uniting Church and Family in the Great Commission
®
114 Bush Rd I Nashville, TN 37217 I randallhouse.com
800.877.7030
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LIMITED CHURCH:
© 2013 by Rob Rienow Published by Randall House Publications 114 Bush Road Nashville, TN 37217 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other means—except for brief quotation in critical reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Other Scripture quotations are from The HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. ISBN 978-0-8926-5676-9 Printed in the United States of America
s Dedicated to my mother, Angie, who taught me to love and believe the Bible. s
Acknowledgments
I
am so thankful for God’s grace and mercy in my life. He has continued to show me His forgiveness and the power of His Word to change my heart. This book comes out of many seasons of repentance. God has used my wife, Amy, to encourage, motivate, and sharpen me throughout our marriage. Her love for the Lord and for His Word is a continual blessing in my life. Thanks to Angie and Jack Herklotz, my mother and step-father, who provided many hours of editing, and great encouragement to me. It is a joy to share in this ministry with my family. I am thankful for the pastors that I have served under during my first twenty years in ministry. God used Bob Johnson, Gary Dausey, and Rob Bugh to help my understanding of God’s mission for the local church. Thanks also to the great team at Randall House, pastor Michael Johnson, and the many reviewers who blessed me with their encouragement and critique during the writing process. May the Lord use these words to point every reader to His Word!
Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Section 1: The Sufficiency of Scripture Chapter 1—The Battle of the Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Chapter 2—Everything Important . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Chapter 3—Every Good Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Chapter 4—A Dangerous Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Section 2: The Lost Doctrine of Jurisdiction Chapter 5—Jurisdiction 101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Chapter 6—When More is Less . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Section 3: God's Mission for the Local Church Chapter 7—The Worship of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Chapter 8 – Preaching the Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Chapter 9—Equipping and Caring in the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Chapter 10—Shepherding in the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Section 4: God’s Mission for the Family Chapter 11—Family Ministry in the Torah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Chapter 12—Family Ministry in the Old Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Chapter 13—Family Ministry in the Gospels (part 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Chapter 14—Family Ministry in the Gospels (part 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 Chapter 15—Family Ministry in the New Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 Chapter 16—Family Ministry through Church History . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Section 5: Uniting Church and Family in the Great Commission Chapter 17—Caring for the Poor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Chapter 18—Transforming Youth and Children’s Ministry . . . . . . . . . 227 Chapter 19—Leading Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 Chapter 20—Children in Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 Chapter 21—Building Marriages and Multiplying Your Church . . . . 271 Chapter 22—Elevating Singles Ministry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 Chapter 23—Discipling Men and Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295 Chapter 24—Accelerating Evangelism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 Chapter 25—Every Thought for the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
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Introduction
T
he singular passion of this book is the advance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. Before Jesus ascended to the Father, He gave His followers this mission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”—Matthew 28:19–20 Most likely, you are a part of a local church that speaks often of this Great Commission. Your church probably even has a mission statement that draws much of its focus from these words of Jesus. With mission statement in hand, or at least in the desk drawer, we pack the calendar with innovative programs, stretch the budget, work overtime to recruit volunteers, neglect our families for days or weeks at a time, and then . . . Can we honestly say that our jam-packed church calendar and our dynamic programs for every demographic group are making radical disciples for Jesus Christ? When was the last time you looked at your church’s results? Are the Christians in your church growing in faith, godliness, and character? Are the Christians in your church deepening in their love for, understanding of, and obedience to the Bible? Are the Christians in your church becoming better equipped and more dedicated to evangelism in their communities? The reality is many Christian churches today are offering more and more programming, and making fewer and fewer true disciples. Just because the seats are full, doesn’t mean disciples are being made. In the last ten years, a number of research projects have revealed some ugly realities. Many churches are a mile wide and an inch deep. Fewer and fewer believers have a biblical worldview. Perhaps worst of all, we are losing the majority of our own children and grandchildren to the world. George Barna’s research from 2006 indicates that eighty percent of young adults in their twenties are disconnected from church. Three out of four of these young people were connected in church as teenagers but drifted away. Barna Introduction 1
surveyed not only church connections for young adults, but also their faith convictions. He set out to discover what percentage of adults in their twenties and thirties expressed a strong commitment to faith in Christ and belief in the Bible. He wanted to determine specifically how many people: • Have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ; •V iew their commitment to Christ as very important in their lives today; •B elieve when they die they will go to heaven because they have confessed their sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior; • Believe God wants them to share their faith; •B elieve eternal salvation is possible only through grace, not works; • Believe Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; • Assert that the Bible is accurate in all it teaches; •D escribe God as the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator who is actively involved in all things. Take a moment and reread the list above. Does that list describe you? Barna found these basic benchmarks of biblical Christianity in only 6 percent of young adults in their twenties and thirties.1 Researcher Thom Rainer, from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, affirms this heartbreaking reality. He led a study to determine what percentage of Americans claimed to be Christians based upon having put their faith in Christ. In other words, what percentage of Americans identify themselves as Christians and understand that being a Christian means putting one’s faith in Christ alone for salvation? Here’s what he found. Among Americans born before 1946, 65 percent identified themselves as Christians and were able to articulate the basics of the gospel. For those born between 1946 and 1964, the number dropped to 35 percent. For those born between 1965 and 1976, it fell to a scant 15 percent. Finally, among Americans born between 1974 and 1994, only 4 percent of the population identified themselves as Christians and had trusted Christ alone for salvation.2 Evangelism and discipleship are in dire crisis, and it is a generational crisis.3 We’re losing more of our own children to the world than we are winning adult converts to faith in Christ. As a result, the percentage of Bible-believing Christians in the United States is in steady decline. The United States in fact, is following 2
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in the footsteps of Western Europe. The lands that birthed the Reformation are now overwhelmingly secular, with Bible-believing Christians making up just one percent of the population in some countries.4 How could this be happening? This is the age of mega-churches, megaprogramming, mega-budgets, mega-conferences, and mega-leadership training. We have Christian books, DVDs, and curriculum for every age group on every subject. Our outreach events, service days, retreats, and short-term mission trips are never ending. We are doing more than ever before, but are we making disciples more than ever before? During my twenty years in full-time ministry, eighteen as a pastor, and two as a missionary, I have lost track of the number of times I have heard words like these from church leaders: • I feel overwhelmed every day. Why does everyone expect the church staff to do everything around here? • What can we do to help these people move from just coming to church on Sunday morning to getting involved in the mission of the church? • I am putting all my time, energy, and resources into our youth ministry. Why are the majority of young people leaving the church and their faith when they go to college? • I spend all day helping everyone else grow spiritually, but I am losing the hearts of my family. I am loved at church, but I feel like a disappointment at home. • I tell everyone else how important it is to pray and read the Bible. If they only knew that I rarely take the time to do those things myself. If we are serious about the Great Commission, if we are serious about making disciples, it is time for our local churches to start doing less. You read correctly. Less! Don’t forget, the singular passion of this book is the advance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. So how can that happen if the local church starts doing less? That is what this book is all about. Perhaps this analogy will help get us started. You are likely familiar with the concept of “limited government.” Christians have traditionally believed that God created the institution of government for a specific, limited number of purposes. Introduction 3
For example, according to Romans 13, God created earthly governments to protect its citizens and bring justice against wrongdoers. God did not create earthly governments to provide everyone with a job. God did not create earthly governments to replace parents. These roles are outside the divine purpose, or proper jurisdiction, of government. Those who believe in limited government believe that when government exercises limited authority within its proper jurisdiction, the maximum number of people are free, safe, and have the opportunity to prosper. On the other hand, when government seeks to exercise authority, control, and direction outside its Godgiven jurisdiction and responsibilities, the citizens are increasingly dominated, in danger, and lose the ability to provide for themselves and their families. A limited government, built on biblical principles, blesses the maximum number of people. An out-of-control government, which does what it wants when it wants, is a curse, and becomes an oppressor. In the same way, God created the institution of the local church with a specific mission, and gave the local church specific practices to accomplish that mission. When a local church limits itself to its God-given mission, the maximum numbers of people are blessed. On the other hand, an out-of-control church, which does what it wants when it wants, actually hinders the mission and stunts the spiritual growth of the congregation. What happens when the leaders of a local church chooses to narrow their focus on the specific mission and practices given by God in the Bible? More and more true disciples are made, and the Christians and Christian families within that local church powerfully engage in ministry at home, in their neighborhoods, and to the ends of the earth.
The Path Ahead We will have to wrestle with many difficult things in the pages ahead. I expect this will be one of those books that ends up with underlines, cross-outs, and many written notes in the margin. There will be five major sections, and the first two are by far the most important and treacherous.
Section 1: The Sufficiency of Scripture The great battle of the 20th century within the church was over the inerrancy 4
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of Scripture. Was the Bible true? Could it be trusted? Was it reliable? Within evangelicalism, the Bible was victorious! When I survey attendees at our Visionary Family Conferences, and ask them, “How many of you believe the Bible is true?” almost every hand goes up. The next battle is upon us, and the war is now waging within the church over the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture. Sure, the Bible is true, but is it enough? Is the Bible enough for God’s people when it comes to the nature and purpose of marriage and parenting? Is the Bible enough for God’s people when it comes to the role of the pastor? Is the Bible enough for God’s people when it comes to how we ought to do youth ministry, women’s ministry, etc? My writings will begin, proceed, and end with the conviction that God, in the Bible, has told us not only what He wants done, but also how He wants it done. God has given us both the ends, and the means of ministry . . . His mission and His methods. I am convinced that the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture is the lost key we need to accelerate the Great Commission!
Section 2: The Lost Doctrine of Jurisdiction Building upon the biblical doctrine of sufficiency, we will explore a largely forgotten aspect of Christian theology—the principle of jurisdiction. Put simply, God created different institutions to accomplish different aspects of His will. He created the individual, the family, the church, and government. Imagine with me that your neighbor is outside and sees your child misbehaving. Would it be OK if he told your child to go into his house and proceeded to discipline your child? Of course, not! Why? It is a violation of biblical jurisdiction. He is usurping your parental authority. In the same way, if someone steals $100 from you, God would call you to forgive that person and turn the other cheek. However, what would happen if the government operated with the same principles? There would be chaos and injustice. The individual’s jurisdiction is to turn the other cheek. It is the government’s jurisdiction to prosecute the crime. Tragically, today’s world and today’s church have confused, mixed, mingled, and lost the clear purposes and jurisdictions of the local church and the Christian family. As a result, neither our churches nor our homes are advancing the gospel as God intended. Introduction 5
These first two sections will be the most important, foundational, difficult, and controversial portions of this book. Please read them carefully, as what follows will stand or fall on the strength of these foundations.
Section 3: God’s Mission for the Local Church God created the institution of the local church to advance His Gospel and build His kingdom. The church was God’s idea, not man’s. In the Bible, God details the specific ways He wants His people to worship Him, and the specific things the local church is to do in order to advance the gospel. We cannot claim that the ministries in our church are “biblical” if there is no command or pattern in the Bible for what we are doing. Section 4: God’s Mission for the Family God created the institution of the family as the foundation for all of human life, in all places, and in all times. He created the family to advance His gospel to the ends of the earth. In His Word, through examples and commands, God calls the Christian family to accomplish specific aspects of His Kingdom mission. Section 5: Uniting Church and Family in the Great Commission God created the institutions of the family and the local church so that the earth might be filled with the worship, Word, glory, and love of God! Both have been given an essential role in advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ. In this final section, we will seek to apply the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture to ministry at church and at home. I have prayed about many things during the preparation of this book. I have prayed that God’s words, not mine, would take center stage. I have prayed, according to Psalm 138:2, that the Lord would “exalt above all things, His name and His Word.” I continue to pray for myself, and everyone who reads this, that we might be like the Bereans in Acts 17:11 who examined the Scriptures daily to see if the preaching of the Apostles was true. If any of my words are not in line with God’s Words, let them quickly fall away and be forgotten. With God’s Love, Rob Rienow 6
Limited Church: Unlimited Kingdom
Endnotes 1
Barna Group, “Most Twentysomethings Put Christianity on the Shelf Following Spiritually Active Teen Years,” September 11, 2006, www.barna.org.
2
Polly House, “Survey Notes Heightened Challenge of Reaching Children for Christ,” Baptist Press, October 20, 2000, www.bpnews.net.
Rob Rienow, When They Turn Away (Kregel Publications: Grand Rapids, MI, 2010) 17–18.
3 4
See Greater Europe Mission, www.gemission.org.
Introduction 7
SECTION 1: THE SUFFICIENCY OF SCRIPTURE
Chapter 1: The Battle of the Century “. . . For you have exalted above all things your name and your word.” —Psalm 138:2b
T
he church service finished about fifteen minutes ago. You are talking with a group of Christian friends, when a visitor approaches you and says, “I have some questions. Can you talk to me?” You and your friends are eager to help. “Sure, what’s on your mind?” “Well, for starters, I have been thinking a lot about Heaven. What will it be like there?” What would you say? My guess is you would begin to talk about how God will one day create a brand new earth, and that those who have trusted Christ will live together with Him. In Heaven, there will be no more tears, or crying or pain! It will be a perfect place, free from all sin and evil, and it will last forever. The visitor responds softly, “Heaven sure sounds like a wonderful place. I don’t have much hope in this life . . . but I could hope for that. How do you know these things?” “These aren’t my ideas. In the Bible, God has given us the truth about Heaven, Hell, and His plan to save us from our sins. The things I am telling you are written down at the end of the book of Revelation.” Now imagine that one of your friends eagerly chimes into the conversation and said, “You are right, Heaven is going to be wonderful! Just last week, I was watching this amazing show on TV, and a man was being interviewed who actually had gone to Heaven. Then this person was brought back to life. He said after he died, the first thing that happened is he was invited to a banquet table where he had a meal with all of his relatives who had died. After that, he was teleported to the pearly gates where Moses and Noah were standing. They told him he had not been good enough in this life to enter Heaven, so he was being sent back to try to be a better person. It
was very inspiring and made me want to be a better person too. He wrote a great book about his experience, you should really check it out.” The conversation has taken a new direction. How are you feeling right now? I hope you are about ready to jump out of your skin and are formulating a plan to interrupt your friend as quickly as possible! But what’s the problem? Why would you be concerned about this shift in the conversation? The answer is obvious. When someone asks us a question such as, “What is Heaven like?” we only need to refer to one book—the Bible. The Bible is sufficient to answer this question. Only in the Bible do we have God’s revealed truth about what Heaven will be like. To bring any other source of knowledge to the conversation is at best dangerous, and at worst heresy. When it comes to questions such as, • “Why did Jesus have to die?” • “How can I be saved?” • “Why should I be baptized?” • “Who is the Holy Spirit?” • “Where is God?” Most Christians I know would use their Bible, and their Bible alone, to find the answers. They might need to make use of a reference book, but only so they might find the appropriate Scriptures. Christians believe that not only is the Bible true, it is enough. It is sufficient. But what about these questions: • “What should be our strategy in youth ministry?” • “What should we teach this year in women’s ministry?” • “Should we have children in our worship services?” • “How can we reach more singles?” • “How can we do a better job caring for the poor?” For many years in pastoral ministry, I rarely opened my Bible to seek answers to these questions. Think of your own first response to questions like these. If someone asked you, “What should be our strategy in youth ministry?” Would you begin your reply with, “Well, in the Bible, God speaks to this issue and He lays out for us His plan for how children are to be evangelized and discipled. Let me show you . . .”? 12
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Or what about, “How can we reach more singles?” Would your first response be, “That is a great question! God has a lot to say about singleness in the Bible, and in the New Testament we find some very specific things that the early church did to minister to singles. Let me show you . . .”? This next statement may shock you. In some seminaries today, pastors are not trained to use the Bible for ministry decisions. We are trained to use the Bible for “doctrinal” issues like the ones listed above, but when it comes to daily church decisions pragmatism, innovation, creativity, and human wisdom rule the day. For the first decade of my pastoral ministry, I sought to get all my “doctrine” from the Bible, while I made ministry decisions myself and with my staff team. The Bible was enough for me when it came to my systematic theology, but not enough when it came to how God’s institutions of the family and the local church should function.
The Battle Is On The church faced a cataclysmic battle in the 20th century. A war was waged over the Bible. Was it true? Could it be trusted? Was it inspired and authoritative? Many churches and denominations were lost, as they abandoned their belief in the Bible as the inspired Word of God.1 However, God never abandons His church. In the lives of millions of Christians, thousands of churches, and many denominations, the Holy Spirit defeated the demonic attack of liberalism, and there was a renewed commitment to the authority and truth of the Bible. The so-called Search for the Historical Jesus was demonstrated to be fraught with inconsistencies and poor scholarship.2 Significant archaeological finds dramatically increased in the 20th century, and to the shock and amazement of the world, continued to support the true history as recorded in the Bible.3 My guess is that if you were to ask your congregation, “How many of you believe the Bible is completely true and trustworthy?” almost every hand would go up! Praise God! I can remember reading both the scholarly and popular writings defending God’s Word against any and all comers. In high school, I devoured Josh McDowell’s, Evidence That Demands a Verdict 4, and More Than a Carpenter.5 My son is now starting to read them. In college and graduate school, it was a privilege to be able The Battle of the Century 13
to learn from the more rigorous and technical apologetic resources dealing with hermeneutics and canonical development.6 You do not need to check your brain at the door to follow Christ and believe the Bible.7 At this point, I need to make a dangerous assumption about you. I am going to assume that you are completely convinced the Bible is the inspired, true, authoritative Word of God. Everything that follows in this book is based on that core conviction. If you are not convinced and convicted about the inspiration and truth of the Bible, you may want to stop reading and look at some of the books I mentioned above. If you don’t already believe the Bible is true, the rest of this book will make little sense.
The Bible Is True but Is It Enough? The church faces a new battle in the 21st century. The battle in many Christian churches today is not “Is the Bible true?” but “Is the Bible enough?” The challenge in the 20th century was over inerrancy, the challenge in the 21st century is over sufficiency. Do we believe the Bible, or do we believe the Bible alone? Do we allow the Bible to shape our thoughts and opinions on every subject? How we answer these questions radically shapes how we live out our faith, and seek to advance the Gospel of our supreme Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In some ways, the issue at the heart of the Protestant Reformation has returned. During the 14th–16th centuries the church powerfully united, and powerfully divided around five “onlys.” In Latin, we call them the five “solas.” Only is a powerful word. It is extreme. It picks a fight. It draws a line in the sand. During the Reformation, believers in Jesus Christ staked their families, their fortunes, their reputations, and their very lives on five solas . . . five onlys. These are words many died for, and many are still8 dying for. Sola Scriptura—Only Scripture—The Bible and the Bible alone is our authority in all matters of faith and life.9 Sola Gratia—Only Grace—We don’t deserve salvation and forgiveness. We are saved by the unearned loving grace of God.10 14
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Sola Fide—Only Faith—We do not earn points with God through doing good things. We cannot earn His favor or salvation by being virtuous. We cannot lose salvation by being extra bad. We are forgiven and made right when we respond to God’s grace with repentance and faith.11 Solus Christus—Only Christ—God has made one and only one way for sinful men and women to be forgiven and saved, and that is through Jesus’ death, resurrection, and glorious ascension.12 Soli Deo Gloria—Only for the Glory of God—This is the purpose of life—the purpose of working, eating, marrying, coming to church, planting your garden, reading your Bible, and volunteering—it is all for the glory of God.13 It was on these five biblical doctrines that men like John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, William Tyndale, Martin Luther, and John Calvin sought to bring about a re-formation of the church. Sola Scriptura served as the foundation for the other four solas. What would you use to teach someone the doctrine of grace? How would you seek to persuade someone that Jesus was the Christ, the one and only Son of God? What would you use to explain to someone the nature of God, and what it means to worship Him? You would use the Bible, and the Bible alone, to teach and understand the doctrines of grace, faith, Christ, and worship. The protestant reformation was centered on, grounded in, and built upon the doctrine of the sufficiency of the Bible. The history of Christianity in general, and the history of each Christian person specifically, is a constant journey of reforming and recalibrating. Satan and the world are constantly seeking to pull the church and individual believers away from the true worship of God. This has been so true in my life. I go through times when I give the enemy a foothold, allow a sin to grow in a dark corner, or I find myself thinking just like the world. God then brings the truth of the Bible to that situation, the Holy Spirit convicts my heart, I repent, confess, and by God’s grace get back on track. God continually forms me, and re-forms me into the image of His Son. Most nights during family worship, as my children would tell you, I thank God for His grace, mercy, and patience with me, a sinner. The same is true in the history of the church. Individual churches and entire denominations at times have fallen into disobedience, false teaching, and heresy. The Battle of the Century 15
There are numerous instructions in the New Testament that elders/pastors are to make absolutely sure they guard the doctrine taught in the church. Make sure everything comes from the Bible! Don’t have any wiggle room for false teachers who want to bring in legalism, who want to bring in ideas from the godless culture around us, or who want to mix faith in Christ with other world religions. Tragically, this is exactly what happens in personal lives, in churches, and entire global networks of churches. If you don’t pull the weeds, they take over. The Christian life is one of continually re-forming, always seeking to re-align our churches, our families, and ourselves with the true worship of God, as He has revealed it to us in the pages of Scripture.
Believing the Bible Is True Is Not Enough There are many places in God’s Word where He teaches us that the Bible is not only true, but sufficient. One of these texts is found in 2 Timothy 3:14–17. Paul writes this to Timothy, who was a young pastor: “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”14 Paul’s first challenge to Timothy is for him to continue in what he has learned and has firmly believed. The more a believer studies God’s book, the more one becomes intellectually convinced of its supernatural origin. Paul reminds Timothy his mother and grandmother first taught him God’s Word. I can relate to Timothy in this. My mother became a Christian three months after I was born. My father was a secularist, and I praise God for a mother who filled my heart and mind with prayer and Scripture. As a side note here, parents, it is never too early to be reading the Bible to your children! Timothy’s mom and grandma were reading Scripture to him “from infancy.” My wife, Amy, has done this with our little ones as well. She puts the baby on a blanket, sets down some toys, and reads the Bible out loud. She calls it the “Bible spa,” as the room is filled with the Words of God, and the Holy Spirit is working on a little heart. God then, through Paul, teaches us truth about His Word. 16
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“. . . the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”—2 Timothy 3:15 The Bible has supernatural power. It is able to make us wise for salvation. The Bible has the ability through the Holy Spirit to bring us to repentance, transform us, change us, and renew our minds. God teaches us this in many places in His Word: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”— Hebrews 4:12 The Bible is, in a spiritual sense, alive. The words of the Bible15, because they are God’s words, can penetrate the human heart, convict us of sin, and bring us face to face with the truth and love of God. You have read from Hebrews 11:6 that, “without faith it is impossible to please [God].” But how do we get faith? If we need it to please Him, where does it come from? “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”—Romans 10:17 God’s words are powerful. These revealed words, in the hands of the Holy Spirit, are able to bring people to repentance and faith in Jesus! When a sermon is preached, it is not the wise or eloquent words of the preacher that have the power to transform lives, rather it is when he speaks the words God has already given us. As a parent, my words do not have the power to renew the minds of my children, but God’s words do! If you were Satan and the demons, what do you think one of your strategies might be to keep people from faith in Christ, and for those who have faith, to keep them from growing? You would keep them as far away from the Bible as you possibly could. His attack in the church is subtle. Maybe he can get us to read many Christian books, books about the Bible, but spend only a few minutes here and there in the real thing. In fact, the best use of your time right now might be to put this book down, and pick up His book. Most Christians I know, including myself, struggle to spend consistent time reading and studying the Bible. I believe it is because of this constant spiritual attack. The Battle of the Century 17
What Is “the Word of God?” The sufficiency of Scripture was the center of the conflict during the protestant reformation. At that time within the Roman Catholic Church, the Bible was only available in Latin and was administered only through the priests. It was thought and taught that the common people could not possibly be expected to read or understand the Bible on their own. This was not as much an issue of literacy, as it was theology. The Roman Catholic Church16 at that time taught explicitly that the “Word of God” was not the Bible alone, but rather the “Word of God” was the Bible along with the official interpretation of the church. This doctrine has continued to be taught and is expressed this way in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.17 Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence. (Catechism Part 1, 82) The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God has been entrusted to the living church alone. (Catechism Part 1, 85) The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the Pope and to the Bishops in communion with him . . . and this interpretation is irrevocably binding for the faith of Christian people. (Catechism Part 1, III, 94, and Part 1, III, 88) The Roman Catholic Church believed 100% in the inerrancy, infallibility, and authority of the Bible. There was no debate in the church about whether or not the Bible was true, whether or not it was God’s Word. The world-changing issue was whether or not the Bible was enough. Was the Bible sufficient? The reformers were rightly convicted that the church of their day was teaching doctrines not found in Scripture. In addition, they saw the church instructing believers to worship God and practice their faith with means and methods also not found in Scripture. Martin Luther risked his life for the doctrine of Sola Scriptura. He believed that the Bible, and the Bible alone was the Word of God, and that no human being had authority over it, or beside it. Some of his most famous words were uttered on April 16, 1521, at the Diet of Worms when he proclaimed, “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot 18
Limited Church: Unlimited Kingdom
and I will not recant anything, and to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.” When Luther translated the Bible into German and Guttenberg’s moveable type enabled the Bible to be mass-produced, spiritual reformation spread like wildfire.
Take Your Stand The church today is desperate for leaders who will take this same courageous stand! Not only do we believe the Bible, but we believe the Bible alone for every matter of faith and life. I am convinced we can trace much of the passivity and ineffectiveness in the modern church to our slippage on this vital doctrine. It is surely a coincidence that the acronym for “Sufficiency of Scripture” is S.O.S., but as we dig deeper into this doctrine and its practical applications in our journey ahead, I hope you will join me in calling out “S.O.S!” to your brothers and sisters in Christ. The urgent call is not “Save Our Ship” but “Save Our Church!” As you will see, this is a battle we cannot afford to lose. Questions for Reflection and Discussion: 1. Before reading this chapter, what would you have said was the difference between the doctrines of inerrancy and sufficiency? 2. To what degree does your church use the Bible as a sufficient guide for making ministry and programming decisions? How often is the Bible referred to when discussing ministry strategy? 3. What role does the Bible play in your personal life and in your family? 4. In what ways have you experienced spiritual attack aimed at keeping you away from the Bible?
Endnotes John Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism (Charleston, SC: Bibliolife, 2009)—originally printed in 1923.
1
2
Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998).
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Alfred Hoerth and John McRay, Bible Archaeology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006).
3 4
Revised and Updated Edition—Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1999).
5
Josh McDowell, More Than a Carpenter (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2009).
6
D. A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge, Hermeneutics, Authority, and Canon (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2005).
A great example of this principle can be found in Luke 1:4. Luke tells his readers that the essential purpose for his labors in writing down a careful history of what Jesus did and taught was so that we might have “certainty concerning the things [we] have been taught.”
7
8
See www.persecution.org.
9
2 Timothy 3:16–17.
10 11
Ephesians 2:1–10.
Ibid. John 14:6.
12
1 Corinthians 10:31.
13 14
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture references will be taken from the English Standard Version.
15
I hold to the historical Christian doctrine that the Bible is inerrant and inspired in its original writing. This is not to say translations are of no value, but we should take great care to avoid preaching from translations which do not closely follow the original languages. God inspired the words (plenary inspiration) of the Bible, not just the ideas.
16
In the early chapters of the book I will briefly summarize key biblical doctrines which stand in contrast to the historic teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. I have many close friends who are devout Catholics and we discuss these issues with respect, frankness, and love. All local churches and denominations are led by fallen and sinful men. No church or denomination is perfect. God only works through imperfect churches, because that is all there is. However, God used the men and the movement of the Reformation to bring millions, and now billions, back to the beliefs and practices of the early church, which are found in the Bible alone.
17
Catechism of the Catholic Church (Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 1994).
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Limited Church: Unlimited Kingdom